Daylight saving time in the U.S. officially ends this weekend. Here’s everything you need to know to prepare for the upcoming time change.
When is daylight saving time in the U.S.?
Daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
What is the ‘fall back’ date in 2023?
The ‘fall back’ date in 2023 is Sunday, November 5. This is when daylight saving time ends and we set the clocks back one hour.
When does the time change?
The time officially changes at 2am local time on Sunday, November 5. We’ll set our clocks back to 1am.
Will we gain or lose an hour of sleep in November?
Because we turn back the clocks at the end of daylight saving time, we’ll gain an hour of sleep.
Why do we set the clocks back?
Benjamin Franklin is often credited with the idea of daylight saving, to have an extra hour of sunlight in the evening to be active outdoors instead of burning candles. In the U.S., the time change was instituted during WWI and again during WWII as part of the war effort to conserve fuel. In 1966, the practice was standardized. We set the clocks back when daylight saving ends in the colder months.
Do all American states observe daylight saving time?
No. Hawaii and Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation) do not observe daylight saving time. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not observe the time change either.
Will daylight saving time still be a thing?
There has been a push recently to make daylight saving time permanent. In 2022, the U.S. Senate voted to make it permanent via the “Sunshine Protection Act,” but legislation stalled in the House. As of now, daylight saving time is still a thing, and we’ll set our clocks forward an hour (and lose an hour of precious sleep) on March 10, 2024.